On the Beach story
On the Beach is a 1959 American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama film from United Artists, produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, that stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins. This black-and- white film is based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name depicting the aftermath of a nuclear war. Unlike the novel, no one is assigned blame for starting the war; the film hints that the threat of annihilation may have arisen from an accident or misjudgment.
8 total · 7 major · 1 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| husband and wife | major | Peter and Peter's wife. |
| mass radiation poisoning | major | The people who survived the nuclear war expected to all die from radiation poisoning. |
| nuclear holocaust | major | The film depicts people in Australia trying to survive in the aftermath of a nuclear war which has left the Northern Hemisphere utterly devastated and devoid of life. |
| nuclear proliferation | major | There was a Northern Hemisphere decimating nuclear war. |
| romantic love | major | Dwight Towers and Moira Davidson. Peter and Peter's wife. |
| the dangers of radioactivity | major | It was anticipated that radiation would descend to Australia and kill everyone from radiation poisoning. |
| the dangers of unfettered scientific advancement | major | The Professor sarcastically claimed that Einstein was responsible for starting the nuclear war and went on to explain something to the effect that a civilization ending nuclear war became inevitable once the power of the atom had been discovered. |
| war due to diplomatic miscalculation | minor | The film hints that the threat of annihilation may have arisen from an accident or misjudgment. |